Tales from The Telco Edge

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Sprint is offering an incentive sure to make waves in the US wireless industry. A new program targeting existing Verizon or AT&T wireless customers, switching to Sprint would allow these new subscribers to pay half of what their bill would have been on their old carrier. So if a customer’s bill on Verizon or AT&T was $160 per month, expect that to go to $80 for a comparable plan on Sprint.

According to MarketWatch.com:

“The offer, which begins Friday, underscores how urgently the country’s third largest carrier needs to add subscribers after years of losing customers and money. SprintS, -0.21% is the only nationwide wireless carrier losing the industry’s lucrative postpaid subscribers on balance, having shed 336,000 of the most lucrative monthly subscribers during the three months ending Sept. 30″

Friday, April 4, 2014

Best Prepaid Cellphone Carriers

Every so often, Lifehacker publishes a list of what they call "5 best". This week, they examine the 5 best prepaid cellphone carriers based on reader feedback. I found the list so compelling, I'm thinking of making a switch myself.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Rural LTE a "real" Market, Thanks to Sprint Partnership

Since 2010, Verizon has been the dominant rural carrier, through what that carrier calls the "LTE in Rural America Program." NetAmerica Alliance has been trying to compete with Verizon by offering 4G LTE service to their customers under the collective brand "Bonfire."

According to Fierce Wireless, "Sprint had been building on a plan to compete in rural broadband, with a joint program involving its Clearwire division (now known as Clear) and Dish Network--which just last year was Sprint's likely merger partner. Now that Softbank acquired Sprint instead, Dish is making moves on its own, using its own chunk of 700 MHz spectrum to offer rural LTE broadband using its own outdoor antennas.

So Thursday's announcement that Sprint is teaming up with NetAmerica, for what's being called the Small Market Alliance for Rural Transformation (SMART), could actually create the competitive broadband market that legislators have sworn for years already existed."

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Dropping that iPhone is mistake that could cost you plenty! Carriers are well aware of the pitfalls (pun intended) of owning these expensive devices, and provide insurance plans to save users from these expensive slip-ups.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Ars Technica reports that The Federal Communications Commission today enacted new rules governing the sale and deployment of wireless signal boosters, those little machines that let consumers get better cell phone signals in areas with poor coverage. More than 2 million of them have been sold in the US, and until now consumers could just turn them on and let them go, until now.

For now on, users must seek the permission of carriers. Even the 2 million devices already in use must be turned off immediately unless their owners register them. The FCC states in an FAQ:

Did the FCC recently adopt new rules for signal boosters?

Yes. The FCC recently adopted new rules to improve signal booster design so these devices won’t cause interference to wireless networks. The FCC also adopted new rules about what cell phone users need to do before using a signal booster.

I already have a signal booster; do I need to do anything under the new rules?

Yes. Under the FCC’s new rules, you (1) need your wireless provider’s permission to use the booster, and (2) must register the booster with your wireless provider. Absent your provider’s permission, you may not continue using your booster.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

The web sure makes it easy to steal information from other websites, and to some extent this is unavoidable. This is a particularly interesting case: Huawai was at Railway Telecommunications event last November and needed to publicize it to their customers. Rather than write up some original content and post it to their site, the took information nearly directly from a competitor in this space, Kapsch. They even went as far as linking to Kapsch's site for "more information". This is more than just lazy; the doc lists Kapsch personnel that will be at the event! The best part: after discovering the theft, Kapsch posted all this information on their own site, along with a statement that they are "not amused".

Who's writing this?

With over 20 years in the telecommunications business, I've worn many hats which (hopefully) gives me a unique perspective on technology and the industry. Now as a Trainer, I get to travel to some unique parts of this country, meet interesting people and sample some amazing regional barbecue!